It is typical for a printed circuit board to connect to another component, such as another printed circuit board, via mating high density connectors to allow transfer of digital information therebetween. Historically, it has been a challenging task to prevent mating high density connectors from being damaged due to misalignment when adjoining circuit boards are connected to one another. Often one printed circuit board is used as a mobile assembly, while the adjoining printed circuit board is typically affixed to a chassis. Many of these mobile printed circuit board assemblies are inserted into chassis guides or slots that support the edges of the circuit board and are not accurate enough to prevent connectors from being damaged during the connectivity process. Another historical problem is that numerous mobile printed circuit board assemblies are large and must be installed blindly, meaning that the installer does not have the visibility to ensure that each connector is aligned properly during the insertion cycle.
Although various printed circuit board designs use guide pins to assist with alignment issues, the way existing guide pins are designed is inherently not accurate enough to prevent connector damage. Many problems exist: guide pins are typically installed imprecisely during the initial assembly process; in addition, many guide pins shift during handling due to the way they are attached to the printed circuit board. This is typically a function of how a guide pin is designed. When multiple screws are used to attach a single guide pin to the printed circuit board, each mounting hole and the distance between mounting holes inherently have manufacturing tolerances and clearances requirements that prevent ever getting an accurate placement.